The travels, travails and joys of missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Brazil.

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Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Zone Conferences, Fasting, Killer Borrachudas

What an AWESOME week! On Monday night we went home to Bertioga for
the first time in a month. We decided to trade our suitcases for
duffle bags and started back on the road the next morning at 5:00am.
President invited us to attend all of the zone conferences in the
mission. It was AWESOME! Not only was it incredibly uplifting to go to
4 zone conferences, but we got to hang out with President and Sister
Cabral for 2 days straight! #whatablessing I LOVE them. I absolutely
adore them and feel so blessed for the opportunity I have to serve with
them.

So I know that I'm a missionary and I probably should have already
had a solid testimony of this already, but this week I honestly gained
a personal testimony of fasting. I know, it sounds absolutely
ridiculous that refusing food and water for 24 hours can help someone
get closer to God, but it is REAL and it WORKS! I was fasting to know
what I personally need to do do reach my full potential. I knew there
was something missing, but I was having trouble identifying what that
was. So I fasted and spending the day with Pres and Sis Cabral I found
my answer. I discovered exactly what it is that I need to place on the
altar of sacrifice to become more sanctified. Then I fasted again on
Sunday for the Lord to give me the strength to overcome and apply what
I learned in my first fast. It was a very sacred experience for me, so
I won't share everything, but fasting is real and God is incredibly
wonderful to give us this tool to come closer to Him and be more
receptive to the Holy Ghost. If it's been awhile since you've fasted,
give it a try, think of something you want to ask God to reveal to you
and then pray and fast to discover a response.

Besides that this week was chill. We are in Ilha Bela right
now....and I tell you what it sure is an Ilha Bela...but like we learn
in the Book of Mormon there is opposition in all things, and the
opposition of Ilha Bela are borrachudas....they are these little tiny
black bugs that bite you and I just so happen to be allergic to!
hahah. One got me right when I got here and my ankle and leg swelled
up quite a bit. It was funny because the sisters who live here were
like...ummm yeah..that's not normal....and so they sent Sis Arthur and
I to the hospital. Which at first I saw as a pain in the butt to waste
time in the hospital when I cold be out working, but turned out the
hospital was the PERFECT place to make contacts. It was raining so
there was no one in the streets. We got the address of the
receptionist AND....THE DOCTOR! boo yah! The doctor was super nice,
he's from Columbia and was really hard to understand, but when I
started teaching him about the Book of Mormon he got really excited
and anxious to learn more. I felt kinda bad because there was a huge
line behind me of people waiting to see him, but we talked a good 10
minutes about the Book of Mormon (bless those patients hearts who had
to wait, but it was for the salvation of the doctor, so I think it's
okay). The sisters are have an appointment marked to teach him and his
wife this Thursday! :)

Oh! also, did I mention how much I LOVE making contacts! It's
especially fun when you're traveling all the time, because we meet
people from EVERYWHERE and everyone is always waiting on something so
there is always time to teach at least part of a lesson. :)

All is well. I'm happy as can be. Life is Good!

Lots of Love.

Sister Byrne

PS, ma, don't worry my leg is fine. I took some anti-inflammatory
medicine and the swelling is going down :)